13+ Psychological Life Hacks to Handle Awkward Social Situations

The growthin your life and career largely depends upon the quality of your social interaction and people’s perception of you.

There is more than one way to do the same thing and what separates you from the crowd is the way you do the job when the right time arrives. And that’s what really matters.

Some of us do really well when it comes to handling social situations and impressing the folks while some of us fall flat on our faces and lose our personality impact over time. Moreover, this also causes you to miss out on several growth & success prospects.

These simple psychological life hacks will help you improve your personality score and make you desirable over time.

These psychological Life Hacks/Tweaks involve the observations, improvisations, and modifications of day to day activities to help you gain the soul of any social moment/interaction. They are quite easy to apply in your life and provide you ‘more benefits for less effort’ with the striking results.

So, to make your life more positive, winning, and appealing, here are the essential psychological life hacks (including those that I use) using which you can be the king of any social situation you run into and steal the show for sure. Check them out!

1) To Cool Down a Heated Argument, Move to the Side of the Person Instead of Standing In Front of Them

Not every person around you is cool enoughto keep calm during an argument, especially when their opinion is being criticized or when they are being accused of something.

Unless you enjoy an intense conversation, you should try this argument hack that lets you pacify them without you being thought of as the one who backed off.

The hack– Standing beside the person instead of in front of them makes their subconscious mind to process you as no more threatening to them, which eventually puts the heated argument to rest in a while.

2) To Speak Out at the Suitable Time During a Conversation, Observe the Feet of the Speaker

It issometimes quite confusing as to when to approach the personwho is talking about something important.

Speaking at a wrong time can not only irritate them, but also put you in an awkward social situation where you are seen as the one who is unconcernedof other’s thoughts.

This makes your personality shallowand uncourteous. The same thing done at the right time presents you as athorough listener, which in turn also creates therespect for your views in other’s subconscious. As a result, your overall reputation and fame starts to grow.

The Hack- You just have to observe their torso (the trunk of the human body, composed of chest and abdomen) and feet.

While in conversation, if only their torso turns and feet stays still, do not intervene. The best time for you to speak up is when they angle both their chest and feet (considering the speaker is standing) towards you. Try it! It works.

4) Do You Need a Favour From Someone?- Start With “I Need Your Help.”

Do you wantafavour from someone and don’t want yourrequest to be turned down?

The hack-Start off your sentence with “I need your help”.

Basically, it means you are indirectly and subconsciously asking them if they are capable enough to do this task.

Denying your request will put them at a pang of guilt making them feel incompetent, which nobody likes to witness. So, in most cases with this simple hack, you are on a highly probable end of getting the favour.

5) Face Problem Remembering the Names?- Repeat the Name of the Person During Your Conversation

A good memory is a vital aspect of one’s personality. Being too forgetful not only degrades your overall persona but also marks a disrespect towards others, especially when you forget their names.

Not to mention the awkward situation that follows when you forget that girl’s name who you tried your luck on and succeeded or some big client’s name.

So,disremembering someone’s name should be the last thing you would ever want to do. And why not- a person’s name is the sweetest sound to them in the world.Isn’t this true?

The Hack- During the conversation, repeating their names kills two birds with one stone. First, it brings them closer to you and, your words areheard attentively and second, you get to memorisetheir name subconsciously.

For instance: “Hello Tim, My name is Sam” “Nice to meet you Tim” “so Tim, where did you attend your graduation?”

6) Didn’t Get a Full Answer to Your Question? Wait and Watch While Keeping Eye Contact With Them

The situation arises whiletalking to a stranger or when you don’t want to explain your question further but want a defined answer.

The responder mayduck and reply you only in brief. Now, How toget them speaking more without you uttering more of the words?

The Hack- Even though the person has finished answering, keep silence while maintaining an eye contact followed by raising your eyebrows.

This is a compelling psychological technique to make them speak more by building a subconscious pressure on them.

It’s a bit hard to master but worth a try.

7) If You Are in a Customer Services’ Business, You Can Pacify Your Angry Customers With This Simple Method

Customer service desks of Bars, Hotels, and Hospitals are the first targets of angry and aggressive customers. Nevertheless, you are expected to handle them courteously, after all that’s what you’re paid for.

This hack can be your true pal in handling themwithout losing your cool.

The hack- Put a mirror behind you at the counter. This will most probably make the angry customer calm down since nobody wants tosee themselves in a bad temper and bad image.

8) Got Insulted By Someone?- Two Best Things You Can do- Either Ignore or Mock Them in a Witty Manner

Social Media, which is a platform for freedom of expression, has seen the number of users soaring up in the recent years. This has also causedanincrease in the number of trolls.

A troll is a person who argues with you on the social media sites like Facebook, Twitter over trivial issues and leaves no stone unturned in upsetting or irritating you even if that involves unethical or immoral means.

Your negativity, bad temper, anger,and frustration is what makes them stronger than ever. The statement holds true for real life haters as well. Here is how you can make them weak and give a befitting reply.

How to deal with trolls?

Instead of providing trolls with what they want, surprise them by ignoring them; the best way to keep trolls at bay.

Alternatively, you can also mock them using a witty remark. It is more fun that way wherein you can enjoy the moment going in your favour.

9) Want to Learn a Concept in its Entirety?- “Teach It To Someone”

Anything you read and try to learn doesn’t remain as such in your brain for long. It tends to fade up gradually over time.

Also, you can’t say it for sure if you have got all its concepts cleared until someone asks you a tricky question out of it and you start staring the walls.

The Hack- To grasp A to Z of a topic, Teach & explain it to someone.

This puts your brain to work in order to extract the maximum details out of what you have read & learned.
Moreover, you can also figure out the weaknesses and work on them later.

Thus, a crystal clear concept stays in your brain way longer.

10) Gossiping Behind the Back Hurts Your Own Trustworthiness- Either Say It on the Face or Avoid it

Gossiping is atime killing thing for some, habit for others and necessity for the rest. But do you know how that affects your own persona?

While gossiping, you reveal thingsabout the third person that others don’t know but this very thing also subconsciously instils a thinking about your untrustworthiness in their minds. They start to believe what you are revealing about the third person today could someday be their case too.

Most of us are not good at making interesting conversations and keeping them running smoothly, especially when it is a stranger who you just met while walking down the road or at a random place. It is the introvert nature to be blamed and hold accountable for this.

What you can do to get the conversation going on smoothly?

Ask them something about themselves, and if you already know their hobbies or passion, then you can use that to fuel up the chatting.

What leads to an efficient and undistracted working? – A focused and motivated brain.

And what leads to motivation? – Amotivating and inspiring ambience.

So, do you think a dirty and stinking surrounding can motivate you to do anything productive with full concentration? – The answer is “No”.

Your personality reflects how you live. Living unorganised and filthily affects not only your career and futurebut also your whole life.Also, the others’ perception of you doesn’t build much good, and more often than not you are tagged as irresponsible, careless, casual, and negligent.

How to feel motivated and creative?

Get up and clean the dirt around you fromswitches, keyboard, table, and get rid of the food leftovers, empty poly-bags, and remove the hanging spider webs from the corners of your room.

Organise things and keep them where they are supposed to be.

Now, Sit there and observe the changes and then get started with your work.

Even the huge companies like Google have mind-relaxing, extremely clean and an organised workspace to fuel up the efficiency of their employees, who then come up with the most brilliant ideas in the world.

13) Always Remember- Confidence is the Key to Success

If you are willing to taste success in your life, confidence has a larger role to play.

We all know that the higher education makes us a bit shy and hesitative person. This is because there is something that also comes along with all that education and degrees- a heightened self-consciousness.

The feeling of what people would say if you couldn’t answer the question correctly keeps you well within your imaginary boundaries further limiting your potential and success prospects.

However, a balanced concoction of knowledge and confidence is highly fruitful, which can amplify your chances of growing beyond your limits in your life.

How to boost your confidence-

You got to believe what you are, what you know, and what you can do.Even if you are wrong, just let it flow with the confidence when it is something that you have always dreamt of.

You cannot be wrong at all the times but a confident answer definitely creates a strong image of you in the subconscious mind of the listener.

Now, the golden rule- Never lose the eye contact. When you are on a date or in a meeting, maintaining eye contact with regular smiles can really win their hearts. A confident and healthy gaze can be an effective soul-touching move.

Nod and lean forward during a conversation. This indicates you are getting along with the talk and are really interested in the views of that person.

15) Finally, Some Bonus Tips For You-

A person’s real character is how they treat someone who is economically low (like waiters, beggars, maids, poor, etc). This is what they really are not what they tell you. Learn and start observing.

If you are a parent, present situations to your kids in a way that gives them the power to choose and make decisions. No matter what your kid chooses, both options are ultimately good from your point of view.
Such a parenting allows your kids togrow up more confident and matured. So, Instead of ‘Wear this shirt’, say ‘which one do you want to wear? White or Blue’.

When asking for a favour, use the word ‘because’, no matter how dumb the reason be. You stand high on getting the favour this way. “
May I get the haircut first?” would be less entertained than “May I get the haircut first because I have to go to the movie”.

To avoid disappointment, try to have fewer expectations from the beginning, like on a date or an interview.

If you want someone to do a big favour for you, first get them to do a small favour for you. It’s known as ‘Foot-in-the-door’ hack.

Getting nervous before a presentation or conference or a bungee jumping?- Chew a gum.

In a negotiation/deal: ifyou have kept your offer and still speaking, you are not doing good for your deal except weakening it.

What’s your life hack to deal with awkward Life situations that you have been through?

Bhupendra is a postgraduate in Biotechnology and the founder of 'Healthy Living Trends.' With a fine understanding of Molecular Biology, Genetics, and Biochemistry, he brings out in this blog how the things actually work inside your body. When he is not writing, you can find him in quiet natural places.